Missouri State Police
have launched a statewide manhunt for former Butler County Missouri Clerk
John Dunivan,
60, who disappeared after being accused of sexually abusing two children who
are under 12 years of age.The 60-year-old
former clerk allegedly sodomized an 11-year-old girl several times in Ripley
County and had sexual contact with a 12-year-old in a separate incident,
according to a felony complaint filed July 12 by Ripley County Prosecuting
Attorney Christopher Miller.

Dunivan, 60, of Poplar Bluff, is accused of having “deviate sexual
intercourse with a child" in Poplar Bluff, Ripley
County, and in a motel in Jefferson City. .Associate Circuit Judge
Thomas D. Swindle set Dunivan’s bond at $100,000 on first degree sexual
sodomy charges and issued the warrant for his arrest. But Dunivan
disappeared.

As of Monday, investigators with the Missouri State Highway Patrol have
searched different residences and cabins in both Ripley and Butler County
but have not found the fugitive clerk.

Dunivan served as the Butler County Clerk for twenty years before
retiring last year.

Dunivan was last seen July 11
driving a red, 2000 Toyota Tacoma with a camper shell. The vehicle has
Missouri license plates numbered 241-NN4. State police warn that Dunivan may
be armed.

Dunivan's wife, Caroline, told KSVS Heartland News Tuesday that
she wants people to remember the two little girls her husband allegedly
abused.

She wants Dunivan to know he's hurting the family, by not turning himself
in.

She worries people will forget about the victims, because her husband was
the County Clerk for 20 years; an elected official, who people respected
very much, according to the KSVS report.

If convicted of the sodomy charge, the former public official faces 10
years to life in prison.